The Age of Innocence 纯真年代

He and May were dining alone, all the familyengagements having been postponed since Mrs. MansonMingott's illness; and as May was the more punctualof the two he was surprised that she had not precededhim. He knew that she was at home, for while hedressed he had heard her moving about in her room;and he wondered what had delayed her.

He had fallen into the way of dwelling on suchconjectures as a means of tying his thoughts fast toreality. Sometimes he felt as if he had found the clue tohis father-in-law's absorption in trifles; perhaps evenMr. Welland, long ago, had had escapes and visions,and had conjured up all the hosts of domesticity todefend himself against them.

When May appeared he thought she looked tired.She had put on the low-necked and tightly-laced dinner-dress which the Mingott ceremonial exacted on themost informal occasions, and had built her fair hairinto its usual accumulated coils; and her face, incontrast, was wan and almost faded. But she shone on himwith her usual tenderness, and her eyes had kept theblue dazzle of the day before.

"What became of you, dear?" she asked. "I waswaiting at Granny's, and Ellen came alone, and saidshe had dropped you on the way because you had torush off on business. There's nothing wrong?"

“你怎么啦，亲爱的？”她问。“我在外婆家等你，可只有埃伦一个人到了。她说让你在路上下了车，因为你急着要去办公事。没出什么事吧？”

"Only some letters I'd forgotten, and wanted to getoff before dinner."

“只是有几封信我原先忘记了，想在晚饭前发出去。”

"Ah--" she said; and a moment afterward: "I'msorry you didn't come to Granny's--unless the letterswere urgent."

“噢——”停了一会儿她又说，“我很遗憾你没去外婆家——除非那几封信很紧急。”

"They were," he rejoined, surprised at her insistence."Besides, I don't see why I should have gone to yourgrandmother's. I didn't know you were there."

“是很紧急，”他回答说，对她的寻根刨底有些意外。“另外，我不明白干吗非得到你外祖母家去，我又不知道你在那儿。”

She turned and moved to the looking-glass above themantel-piece. As she stood there, lifting her long arm tofasten a puff that had slipped from its place in herintricate hair, Archer was struck by something languidand inelastic in her attitude, and wondered if the deadlymonotony of their lives had laid its weight on her also.Then he remembered that, as he had left the house thatmorning, she had called over the stairs that she wouldmeet him at her grandmother's so that they might drivehome together. He had called back a cheery "Yes!"and then, absorbed in other visions, had forgotten hispromise. Now he was smitten with compunction, yetirritated that so trifling an omission should be storedup against him after nearly two years of marriage. Hewas weary of living in a perpetual tepid honeymoon,without the temperature of passion yet with all itsexactions. If May had spoken out her grievances (hesuspected her of many) he might have laughed themaway; but she was trained to conceal imaginary woundsunder a Spartan smile.

To disguise his own annoyance he asked how hergrandmother was, and she answered that Mrs. Mingottwas still improving, but had been rather disturbed bythe last news about the Beauforts.

为了掩饰个人的烦恼，他询问她外婆的病情如何，她回答说明戈特太太仍然在慢慢好转，不过有关博福特夫妇的最新消息却令她十分不安。

"What news?"

“什么消息？”

"It seems they're going to stay in New York. I believehe's going into an insurance business, or something.They're looking about for a small house."

“好像他们还要留在纽约，我想他是打算从事保险业还是什么的。他们在寻找一座小住宅。”

The preposterousness of the case was beyond discussion,and they went in to dinner. During dinner theirtalk moved in its usual limited circle; but Archernoticed that his wife made no allusion to Madame Olenska,nor to old Catherine's reception of her. He was thankfulfor the fact, yet felt it to be vaguely ominous.

They went up to the library for coffee, and Archerlit a cigar and took down a volume of Michelet. Hehad taken to history in the evenings since May hadshown a tendency to ask him to read aloud whenevershe saw him with a volume of poetry: not that hedisliked the sound of his own voice, but because hecould always foresee her comments on what he read. Inthe days of their engagement she had simply (as he nowperceived) echoed what he told her; but since he hadceased to provide her with opinions she had begun tohazard her own, with results destructive to his enjoymentof the works commented on.

Seeing that he had chosen history she fetched herworkbasket, drew up an arm-chair to the green-shadedstudent lamp, and uncovered a cushion she wasembroidering for his sofa. She was not a clever needle-woman; her large capable hands were made for riding,rowing and open-air activities; but since other wivesembroidered cushions for their husbands she did notwish to omit this last link in her devotion.

She was so placed that Archer, by merely raising hiseyes, could see her bent above her work-frame, herruffled elbow-sleeves slipping back from her firm roundarms, the betrothal sapphire shining on her left handabove her broad gold wedding-ring, and the right handslowly and laboriously stabbing the canvas. As she satthus, the lamplight full on her clear brow, he said tohimself with a secret dismay that he would alwaysknow the thoughts behind it, that never, in all the yearsto come, would she surprise him by an unexpectedmood, by a new idea, a weakness, a cruelty or anemotion. She had spent her poetry and romance ontheir short courting: the function was exhaustedbecause the need was past. Now she was simply ripeninginto a copy of her mother, and mysteriously, by thevery process, trying to turn him into a Mr. Welland.He laid down his book and stood up impatiently; andat once she raised her head.

He had insisted that the library curtains should drawbackward and forward on a rod, so that they might beclosed in the evening, instead of remaining nailed to agilt cornice, and immovably looped up over layers oflace, as in the drawing-room; and he pulled them backand pushed up the sash, leaning out into the icy night.The mere fact of not looking at May, seated beside histable, under his lamp, the fact of seeing other houses,roofs, chimneys, of getting the sense of other livesoutside his own, other cities beyond New York, and awhole world beyond his world, cleared his brain andmade it easier to breathe.

After he had leaned out into the darkness for a fewminutes he heard her say: "Newland! Do shut thewindow. You'll catch your death."

他把头伸到黑暗中呆了几分钟后，只听她说：“纽兰！快关上窗子。你要找死呀。”

He pulled the sash down and turned back. "Catchmy death!" he echoed; and he felt like adding: "ButI've caught it already. I AM dead--I've been dead formonths and months."

他拉下吊窗，转过身来。“找死！”他重复道，心里仿佛在说：“可我已经找到了，我现在就是死人——已经死了好几个月好几个月了。”

And suddenly the play of the word flashed up a wildsuggestion. What if it were SHE who was dead! If shewere going to die--to die soon--and leave him free!The sensation of standing there, in that warm familiarroom, and looking at her, and wishing her dead, wasso strange, so fascinating and overmastering, that itsenormity did not immediately strike him. He simplyfelt that chance had given him a new possibility towhich his sick soul might cling. Yes, May might die--people did: young people, healthy people like herself:she might die, and set him suddenly free.

She glanced up, and he saw by her widening eyesthat there must be something strange in his own.

她抬头瞥了他一眼，从她睁大的眼睛里他看出自己的目光一定有点奇怪。

"Newland! Are you ill?"

“纽兰！你病了吗？”

He shook his head and turned toward his arm-chair.She bent over her work-frame, and as he passed he laidhis hand on her hair. "Poor May!" he said.

他摇摇头，朝他的扶手椅走去。她又俯身她的刺绣，他路过她身边时，一只手放在她头上。“可怜的梅！”他说。

"Poor? Why poor?" she echoed with a strained laugh.

“可怜？可怜什么！”她勉强笑了笑重复说。

"Because I shall never be able to open a windowwithout worrying you," he rejoined, laughing also.

“因为只要我开窗子就会让你担心啊，”他回答道，也笑了起来。

For a moment she was silent; then she said very low,her head bowed over her work: "I shall never worry ifyou're happy."

她一时没有作声，过了一会儿，她头也不抬，十分缓慢地说：“只要你高兴，我就决不会担心。”

"Ah, my dear; and I shall never be happy unless Ican open the windows!"

“啊，亲爱的；除非我把窗子全打开，否则我永远不会高兴的。”

"In THIS weather?" she remonstrated; and with a sighhe buried his head in his book.

“在这样的天气里？”她争辩道。他叹了口气，埋头去读他的书。

Six or seven days passed. Archer heard nothing fromMadame Olenska, and became aware that her namewould not be mentioned in his presence by any memberof the family. He did not try to see her; to do sowhile she was at old Catherine's guarded bedside wouldhave been almost impossible. In the uncertainty of thesituation he let himself drift, conscious, somewherebelow the surface of his thoughts, of a resolve whichhad come to him when he had leaned out from hislibrary window into the icy night. The strength of thatresolve made it easy to wait and make no sign.

Then one day May told him that Mrs. MansonMingott had asked to see him. There was nothingsurprising in the request, for the old lady was steadilyrecovering, and she had always openly declared thatshe preferred Archer to any of her other grandsons-in-law. May gave the message with evident pleasure: shewas proud of old Catherine's appreciation of herhusband.

There was a moment's pause, and then Archer felt itincumbent on him to say: "All right. Shall we gotogether this afternoon?"

片刻踌躇之后，阿切尔义不容辞地说：“好吧。下午我们一起去好吗？”

His wife's face brightened, but she instantly answered:"Oh, you'd much better go alone. It bores Granny tosee the same people too often."

妻子面露喜色，不过她马上又回答说：“唔，最好还是你一个人去，外婆不高兴老见到同一些人。”

Archer's heart was beating violently when he rangold Mrs. Mingott's bell. He had wanted above allthings to go alone, for he felt sure the visit would givehim the chance of saying a word in private to theCountess Olenska. He had determined to wait till thechance presented itself naturally; and here it was, andhere he was on the doorstep. Behind the door, behindthe curtains of the yellow damask room next to thehall, she was surely awaiting him; in another momenthe should see her, and be able to speak to her beforeshe led him to the sick-room.

He wanted only to put one question: after that hiscourse would be clear. What he wished to ask wassimply the date of her return to Washington; and thatquestion she could hardly refuse to answer.

他只想问一个问题，问清之后，他的行动方针也就明确了。他想问的仅仅是她回华盛顿的日期，而这个问题她几乎不可能拒绝回答。

But in the yellow sitting-room it was the mulattomaid who waited. Her white teeth shining like akeyboard, she pushed back the sliding doors and usheredhim into old Catherine's presence.

然而，在那间黄色起居室里等着的却是那位混血女佣，她那洁白发亮的牙齿像钢琴键盘。她推开拉门，把他引到老凯瑟琳面前。

The old woman sat in a vast throne-like arm-chairnear her bed. Beside her was a mahogany stand bearinga cast bronze lamp with an engraved globe, over whicha green paper shade had been balanced. There was nota book or a newspaper in reach, nor any evidence offeminine employment: conversation had always beenMrs. Mingott's sole pursuit, and she would have scornedto feign an interest in fancywork.

Archer saw no trace of the slight distortion left byher stroke. She merely looked paler, with darker shadowsin the folds and recesses of her obesity; and, in thefluted mob-cap tied by a starched bow between herfirst two chins, and the muslin kerchief crossed overher billowing purple dressing-gown, she seemed likesome shrewd and kindly ancestress of her own whomight have yielded too freely to the pleasures of thetable.

She held out one of the little hands that nestled in ahollow of her huge lap like pet animals, and called tothe maid: "Don't let in any one else. If my daughterscall, say I'm asleep."

她那双小手像宠物般依偎在大腿的凹陷里，她伸出来一只，对女佣喊道：“别人谁也不让进来。要是我的女儿们来了，就说我在睡觉。”

The maid disappeared, and the old lady turned toher grandson.

女佣下去了，老夫人朝外孙女婿转过脸来。

"My dear, am I perfectly hideous?" she asked gaily,launching out one hand in search of the folds of muslinon her inaccessible bosom. "My daughters tell me itdoesn't matter at my age--as if hideousness didn't matterall the more the harder it gets to conceal!"

He laughed, and she continued: "Was it because youtold her so that she had to put you out on the way? Inmy youth young men didn't desert pretty women unlessthey were made to!" She gave another chuckle, andinterrupted it to say almost querulously: "It's a pity shedidn't marry you; I always told her so. It would havespared me all this worry. But who ever thought ofsparing their grandmother worry?"

Archer wondered if her illness had blurred her faculties;but suddenly she broke out: "Well, it's settled,anyhow: she's going to stay with me, whatever the restof the family say! She hadn't been here five minutesbefore I'd have gone down on my knees to keep her--ifonly, for the last twenty years, I'd been able to seewhere the floor was!"

Archer listened in silence, and she went on: "They'dtalked me over, as no doubt you know: persuaded me,Lovell, and Letterblair, and Augusta Welland, and allthe rest of them, that I must hold out and cut off herallowance, till she was made to see that it was her dutyto go back to Olenski. They thought they'd convincedme when the secretary, or whatever he was, came outwith the last proposals: handsome proposals I confessthey were. After all, marriage is marriage, and money'smoney--both useful things in their way . . . and I didn'tknow what to answer--" She broke off and drew along breath, as if speaking had become an effort. "Butthe minute I laid eyes on her, I said: `You sweet bird,you! Shut you up in that cage again? Never!' And nowit's settled that she's to stay here and nurse her Grannyas long as there's a Granny to nurse. It's not a gayprospect, but she doesn't mind; and of course I've toldLetterblair that she's to be given her proper allowance."

The young man heard her with veins aglow; but inhis confusion of mind he hardly knew whether hernews brought joy or pain. He had so definitely decidedon the course he meant to pursue that for the momenthe could not readjust his thoughts. But gradually therestole over him the delicious sense of difficultiesdeferred and opportunities miraculously provided. IfEllen had consented to come and live with her grandmotherit must surely be because she had recognised theimpossibility of giving him up. This was her answer to hisfinal appeal of the other day: if she would not take theextreme step he had urged, she had at last yielded tohalf-measures. He sank back into the thought with theinvoluntary relief of a man who has been ready to riskeverything, and suddenly tastes the dangerous sweetnessof security.

"Ah, my dear, I always knew you were on her side;and that's why I sent for you today, and why I said toyour pretty wife, when she proposed to come with you:`No, my dear, I'm pining to see Newland, and I don'twant anybody to share our transports.' For you see, mydear--" she drew her head back as far as its tetheringchins permitted, and looked him full in the eyes--"yousee, we shall have a fight yet. The family don't wanther here, and they'll say it's because I've been ill,because I'm a weak old woman, that she's persuaded me.I'm not well enough yet to fight them one by one, andyou've got to do it for me."

"You. Why not?" she jerked back at him, her roundeyes suddenly as sharp as pen-knives. Her hand flutteredfrom its chair-arm and lit on his with a clutch oflittle pale nails like bird-claws. "Why not?" shesearchingly repeated.

Archer, under the exposure of her gaze, had recoveredhis self-possession.

阿切尔在她注视之下恢复了自制。

"Oh, I don't count--I'm too insignificant."

“咳，我不顶用——我太无足轻重了。”

"Well, you're Letterblair's partner, ain't you? You'vegot to get at them through Letterblair. Unless you'vegot a reason," she insisted.

“可你是莱特布赖的合伙人，对不对？你必须借助莱特布赖对他们施加影响，除非你有别的理由，”她坚持说。

"Oh, my dear, I back you to hold your own againstthem all without my help; but you shall have it if youneed it," he reassured her.

“哎，亲爱的，我支持你的主张，你不用我帮忙就能对付他们。不过，只要你需要，就能得到我的帮助，”他安慰她说。

"Then we're safe!" she sighed; and smiling on himwith all her ancient cunning she added, as she settledher head among the cushions: "I always knew you'dback us up, because they never quote you when theytalk about its being her duty to go home."

He winced a little at her terrifying perspicacity, andlonged to ask: "And May--do they quote her?" But hejudged it safer to turn the question.

面对她吓人的锐利眼光，他不免有点畏惧，他很想问一句：“梅呢——他们引述她的话了吗？”但他以为还是转换一下话题更保险。

"And Madame Olenska? When am I to see her?" hesaid.

“奥兰斯卡夫人呢？我什么时候去见她？”他说。

The old lady chuckled, crumpled her lids, and wentthrough the pantomime of archness. "Not today. Oneat a time, please. Madame Olenska's gone out."

老夫人又咯咯笑了一阵，揉了揉眼皮，诡秘地打了一番手势。“今天不行，一次只见一人。奥兰斯卡夫人出去了。”

He flushed with disappointment, and she went on:"She's gone out, my child: gone in my carriage to seeRegina Beaufort."

他一阵脸红，感到有些失望。她接着说：“她出去了，孩子。坐我的马车去看里吉纳·博福特了。”

She paused for this announcement to produce itseffect. "That's what she's reduced me to already. Theday after she got here she put on her best bonnet, andtold me, as cool as a cucumber, that she was going tocall on Regina Beaufort. `I don't know her; who isshe?' says I. `She's your grand-niece, and a mostunhappy woman,' she says. `She's the wife of a scoundrel,'I answered. `Well,' she says, `and so am I, and yetall my family want me to go back to him.' Well, thatfloored me, and I let her go; and finally one day shesaid it was raining too hard to go out on foot, and shewanted me to lend her my carriage. `What for?' I askedher; and she said: `To go and see cousin Regina--COUSIN!Now, my dear, I looked out of the window, and saw itwasn't raining a drop; but I understood her, and I lether have the carriage. . . . After all, Regina's a bravewoman, and so is she; and I've always liked courageabove everything."

Archer bent down and pressed his lips on the littlehand that still lay on his.

阿切尔弯下腰，紧紧用唇吻了吻仍然搁在他手上的那只小手。

"Eh--eh--eh! Whose hand did you think you werekissing, young man--your wife's, I hope?" the old ladysnapped out with her mocking cackle; and as he rose togo she called out after him: "Give her her Granny'slove; but you'd better not say anything about our talk."